1 of 8 People in the World Suffers from a Mental Illness. BFPA’s Volunteers at a Meeting with the Deputy Minister of Health

On February 1, 2024, BFPA’s volunteers Viktoria Nikolova and Mia Hajdushka met with the Deputy Minister of Health Assoc. Mihail Okoliyski. Vicky and Mia are students at the American University in Blagoevgrad and at the end of 2023 they won funding from the Youth Network of the IFSP Y-SAFE, with which we will continue to maintain the platform “A click away” before 2024

The platform was created by our young people as part of the BFPA’s project ‘Youth Voices, Youth Choices’ and fills a big gap – through it everyone under the age of 25 can get FREE psychological support and general help in the field of mental health from highly qualified psychologists online (and for Sofia residents also in person). Consultations are not one-time, but as long as there is a need for them. In 2023, 270 consultations were carried out through the platform, and the users of the service were in the age range from 15 to 24. Women are 10% more than men, and the most needy are those aged 23, 22 and 15.

Some facts:

1 in 8 people in the world suffer from a mental illness.

suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29.

in Bulgaria, psychological support is not available, especially for young people and people from vulnerable groups.

there is still a huge stigma around the topic of mental and sexual and reproductive health.
! “A Click Away” offers free consultations with psychologists and specialists in the field of sexual and reproductive health.
! The platform is a source of reliable information in Bulgarian about mental health
We hope that the Ministry of Health and the state recognize as a priority the need to support our efforts and the mental health of young people. We have the assurance of the Deputy Minister that this is important. We hope it happens the way our platform does – in small concrete steps.